Freedom Week: A Call to Stop Workplace Bullying, Oct. 19-25, 2014

Freedom Week: A Call to Stop Workplace Bullying

(Hartford, CT)  Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week, October 19-25, 2014 is a national awareness-raising event sponsored by the Workplace Bullying Institute (WBI). “Freedom Week is the chance to break through the shame and silence surrounding workplace bullying,” says Dr. Gary Namie, WBI co-founder and co-author of The Bully-FreeWorkplace: Stop Jerks, Weasels, and Snakes From Killing Your Organization (Wiley, 2011).

WBI defines Workplace Bullying as abusive conduct committed by one or more perpetrators. According to the latest scientific WBI national survey, over one-quarter of adult Americans, 27%, have been the target of workplace bullying. A startling 65 million Americans are negatively affected by abusive conduct at work. Damages include harm to employee health and job loss; employers suffer lost productivity and lawsuits.

It’s an epidemic but fear of losing one’s job in these tough economic times leads to underreporting. It’s a silent epidemic.

“I lost a close friend who committed suicide in 2005,” remembers Dr. Katherine Hermes, a history professor at Central Connecticut State University. “When she tried to report the abusive conduct, it was called a personality conflict. We didn’t know what to call what happened to her until finding the Workplace Bullying Institute, which explained the phenomenon. Now I understand it is like domestic violence. It does the same thing to a person, inducing shame, pain and health problems from stress, including PTSD.” Both men and women can experience workplace bullying.

“I want to make sure every workplace is free from bullying, so that is why I formed Connecticut HealthyWorkplace Advocates,” Hermes says. “We spread information through social media like Twitter and Facebook, and we advocate for legislation. Conscientious managers and employers can learn to stop it.”

In years past, several cities and counties across the country have proclaimed “Freedom from Workplace Bullies Week,” including New London, Newtown, Torrington, and New Milford.  This year the town of Chaplin and the city of Groton have issued proclamations. CentralConnecticut State University President Jack Miller has proclaimed Freedom Week on his campus for the last several years and has done so again in 2014. It is a time for bullied individuals and their families to plan ways to leave damaging jobs. Unions should awake to bullying within their ranks. Employers should commit to stop the preventable losses. Lawmakers can introduce a state bill to curb bullying in the workplace called the Healthy Workplace Bill.

The first Connecticut state version of the Healthy Workplace Bill, SB 371, was introduced in the General Assembly by Sen. Thomas Colapietro in 2007. It was heard in the Labor and Public Employees Committee chaired by Sen. Edith Prague, who also introduced it the next year. In 2009, 2010 and 2012, various bills concerning workplace bullying using some language from the Healthy Workplace Bill have been introduced. Current Labor and Public Employees Committee co-chair Sen. GaryHolder-Winfield has introduced and supported bills on workplace bullying in the past. Puerto Rico’s legislature passed the Healthy Workplace Bill in 2014, but the governor vetoed it.

Contact:

Connecticut Healthy Workplace Advocates

Coordinator: Katherine Hermes, J.D., Ph.D.

Email: ctbullybusters@gmail.com

Contact: 

Gary Namie, Director, WBI, 360-656-6630

WBI:  http://workplacebullying.org/freedom-week

HWB:  http://healthyworkplacebill.org

WBI is the first and only research and education U.S. organization dedicated to the eradication of abusive conduct in the workplace.

CCSU Professors Speak Out for Solidarity in Confronting State Budget Crisis

CCSUProfs4Progress

Statement on the Connecticut Budget Crisis, March 1, 2010

On February 22, 2010, CSU-AAUP President David Walsh sent a letter alerting CSU-AAUP union members of the gravity of the State of Connecticut’s budget deficit and the likelihood that some CSU departments, programs, and employees will be terminated with the next biennial budget.  According to President Walsh’s letter, Connecticut has already borrowed $1.2 billion to bridge its budget shortfall and estimates predict the deficit will grow another billion dollars by June 2010 and an additional three to four billion dollars during fiscal year 2011-2012. 

  

These budget deficits are not the fault of university employees, nor the fault of students.  Instead, they represent a failure of our nation’s economic and political system fed by an economy of low wages and high debt, foreign wars, a lack of stable, well-paid jobs, and long-term problems in the nation’s health care and retirement systems.   In this is moment of crisis, we cannot be bystanders as administrators and politicians undermine our university’s mission.   Higher education is essential to a vibrant economy and we must ensure that Connecticut residents have access to affordable, quality education.  The state’s economy will not be fixed by adding university employees to the ranks of the unemployed, but eroding our education system puts everyone’s future at risk.  

As faculty we have fought for shared governance, recognizing our unique insight into what it takes to create a quality education.  In keeping with this fundamental principle, we insist that:

• ·       There can be no cuts in education or student services. The excellence of our university must be maintained.
• ·       All university budgetary matters must be made transparent; faculty, staff, and students must participate in all decisions concerning cost saving measures. 
• ·       There can be no faculty or staff layoffs.  Administrators must not be given preferential treatment in terms of pay raises or retention bonuses.  The retention of our fine faculty and staff must be the first priority.
• ·       Affirmative action must be defended.  Reduced budgets cannot be used to undermine the creation of a diversity faculty, staff, and student body. 
• ·       The budget deficit must not be passed on to our students. We stand against increases in tuition and fees, and any measures that compromise the quality and affordability of our students’ education. 

We also recognize the power of democratically-organized unions to enact positive social change.  This will be accomplished through broad discussion and decision-making among the membership.  Even though budget cuts have already increased our workload, we must make room in our professional lives for union participation and we call on our union representatives to facilitate open discussion through regular and meaningful meetings in which members make decisions together.  Finally, we recognize the importance of standing in solidarity with CSU staff, students, and other unions, including, but not limited to those within the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition.  We call upon staff, students, and other unions to enter the discussion that we begin with his statement and make suggestions as to how best to meet this crisis.  Together, we can move beyond legislative politics and build a powerful movement, just as the faculty and students of the University of California have begun to do.  

Signed,

Briann Greenfield, Chair, CCSUProfs4Progress 

Steven Adair

Mike Alewitz

Sheri Fafunwa-Ndibe

Kathy Hermes

Jeffry McGowan

Serafín Méndez-Méndez

Rachael Siporin

Robert Wolff

_______________________________________

Note from CT Bullybusters: HB 5285 AN ACT CONCERNING STATE EMPLOYEES AND VIOLENCE AND BULLYING IN THE WORKPLACE:http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/menu/CommDocTmyBillAllComm.asp?bill=HB-05285&doc_year=2010

June Baker Higgins Gender Studies 20th Anniversary Conference, May 7-9, 2010

Gail Collins, a columnist from the New York Times, will be our Keynote Speaker on May 7 and Rachel Lloyd, a sexually exploited teenager who later founded Girls Education and Mentoring Service (GEMS), will present at noon on May 8.

The Central Connecticut State University Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program 20th Anniversary Conference & Celebration welcomes proposals for papers or panels from faculty, independent scholars, graduate students, and senior undergraduate students (supervised by professors) for the June Baker Higgins Gender Studies Conference May 7-9, 2010. This year’s theme is on facets of “Being 20,” in keeping with CCSU’s celebration of twenty years of having a Women’s Studies (now Women, Gender and Sexualities Studies) program! 

We encourage innovative and creative ways of approaching the theme. Examples of topics may include: struggles, economics, injustices, globalization, changes, aging, rights, conflicts, innovations, cultures, concerns, laws, sexualities, creative works, bodies, solutions, movements, strategies, leaders, or age, and some aspect of “Being 20.”   Topics that do not fit within the theme of the conference, but which are of general relevance to Women, Gender and/or Sexuality are welcomed, but preference will be given to panels and papers that address this year’s theme.  Abstracts for papers or panels, poster sessions, or short films may be submitted immediately to Cynthia Pope at popec@mail.ccsu.edu. An electronic submission form is available at:
http://www.ccsu.edu/page.cfm?p=5529. Submissions should be received no later than April 2, 2010.

No registration fee is required, as it is part of our feminist mission to make the conference accessible and affordable.

Registration forms are available online and anyone may attend at no cost. Banquet reservations do require payment. Anyone interested in advertising in our conference program may contact Carolyn Fallahi at FallahiC@mail.ccsu.edu. All advertising proceeds will help fund the June Baker Higgins Scholarship at Central Connecticut State University.